I often hear that a certain percentage of children need to be vaccinated in order to keep the "herd" from getting diseased.
What I am unclear of is how children who have not been vaccinated could infect a child who has been? Further, I am also unclear why actually having the disease gives a much longer immunity than having vaccines.
Next....unvaccinated children are often blamed for causing outbreaks of chicken pox, for example. Wouldn't it be more likely that a newly vaccinated child who contracts the disease from the vaccine would infect other children who are no longer immune or never were? Is it true that many children receive no immunity from the vaccine?
Finally, if immunity for measles and chicken pox are limited to a few years....should we not all be receiving boosters every 4 years or so?
I am a nursing school drop out....enough information to make me dangerous...and curious.
I have vaxed both older children. Liam has his up to two years. I will be shortly doing the titer test. My two year old has been vaxed for everything but the MMR. I don't want to jeopordize other children's health. But, I want to protect my sons as, well.
I still do not know where I stand. I have worked in a hospital and have seen kids with Wooping cough -- very sad.
But - then I have a child was normal until the MMR vaccine.
My child, though vaccinated against whooping cough, still went on to get the illness at 12 months old. My older daughter and I also caught it, even though we had been vaccinated as well. Vaccines don't always work.There is a wealth of information on this topic, particularly the question of the MMR vaccine. I think one of the most compelling pieces of evidence is that the man who "broke the news" about the dangers of the MMR vaccine, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was simultaneously involved in helping families seek financial restitution for damages due to vaccines. In other words, he stood to gain financially by separating the vaccines- I have read about this many times over the years, and still no reliable research supports any link between autism and vaccines. Here is one link you may find helpful. Keep in mind that the only reason Dr. Wakefield is working in the U.S. is because he was kicked out of England, not allowed to practice there, and is recently (as of July 2007) up on charges for the problem. I am looking further into this to find more recent info on what has happened to him.
Unimmunized kids who get sick can infect younger children who are not yet of the age for those particular shots. They can infect the fetus of pregnant women and adults who grew up before some of the shots were offered.
Rubella can be lethal or at least result in blindness and other birth defects in an unborn baby. Boys and men can become sterile because of the mumps. The chicken pox for adults can be reoccuring lifelong shingles, a highly painful viral infection.
My unimmunized, 13 year old sister died from chicken pox.
If it were available, I'd vaccinate both our cats in addition to my kids. I believe in the shots.
I have many of the same questions. We are currently struggling with what to do about vaccinations for our newborn. The more research I do, the more hesitant I am to vaccinate - at least so young. I just don't understand why we have to do so many shots so young.
As for the MMR, I've had the vaccine 5 times but have problems with it working for me. So, I'm part of that 5% who did not develop immunity from the vaccine. When I was pregnant the first time I learned I was not rubella immune yet again (I'd been tested for antibodies several other times over the years with the same response) So, at the time I actually needed to be immune I was not. I would have been better off contracting rubella as a child when it is almost alway an extremely mild illness. Instead, they gave me another rubella vaccine postpartum while breastfeeding without informing me that it would go through the breastmilk (before I knew any better)...
The chicken pox vaccine makes no sense to me as we have no idea what will happen to vaccinated kids as they get older. A mild childhood illness may turn into a devastating adult illness...
My opinion is that you need to do what is best for your children. Vaccines serve a purpose and cause no problems for a majority of kids, but that does not mean they are safe and effective for every child. I also don't see how delaying vaccines and spreading them out puts others at risk. They warn you to avoid vaccines if the child is allergic to any ingredient but how do you know what an infant will be allergic or sensitive to?
As for the MMR, we have also delayed this for my 3 year old and have had extensive discussions about it with the doc. Measles is the biggest concern. Mumps is next for boy though not usually a problem for kids and rubella really isn't even an issue for boys. So, you could spread it out starting with measles first.
Just to be clear - vaccines do not always work. I am a perfect example having had the MMR several times and not developing the antibodies. So, it's not always unvaccinated people responsible for infecting others. In fact, in many outbreaks are more common among those who were vaccinated and thus had not acquired natural immunity. And, with the live virus vaccines (MMR and chicken pox) it is possible for those recently vaccinated to infect those who are immune compromised.